Tohifolau v R
[2018] NSWCCA 283
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW)
Decision date
2018-11-09
Before
Basten JA, Schmidt J, Fagan J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (8 paragraphs)
Judgment
- THE COURT: By notice filed 30 July 2018 the applicant sought leave to appeal against the severity of a sentence imposed on him on 4 August 2017 by Hunt DCJ following his plea of guilty to a charge in these terms: That he on the 1st day of August 2015 at Wellington in the State of New South Wales did cause grievous bodily harm to Robin Irvine with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Robin Irvine.
- At the conclusion of the leave hearing in this Court on 9 November 2018 the following orders were made, with reasons reserved: 1. Leave to appeal granted. 2. Appeal dismissed. These are the Court's reasons for having made those orders.
- The charge was laid under s 33(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years and a standard non-parole period of 7 years. At the time of the offence the applicant and the victim were both inmates of Wellington Correctional Centre. In circumstances elaborated in more detail below, the applicant entered the victim's cell and bashed him so severely as to cause permanent brain damage. The victim will require full-time care for the rest of his life.
- The plea of guilty was entered late, well into the applicant's judge-alone trial on the charge. His Honour allowed a utilitarian discount of 5%. He imposed a sentence of 12 years and 4 months with a non-parole period of 9 years. The sentence was dated to commence from the expiry of the non-parole period of a sentence for earlier offences, pursuant to which the applicant had been in custody on 1 August 2015, when the present offence was committed.
- The grounds of appeal for which leave was sought were as follows: 1 The learned sentencing judge erred in that he impermissibly took into account the applicant's criminal record when assessing the objective seriousness of the offence. 2 The learned sentencing judge erred in that, having found special circumstances, he did not give effect to his express intention to structure the total effective sentence by reducing to about 70% the non-parole period in order to reflect special circumstances. 3 In the circumstances of the case, the sentence is manifestly excessive.